Among hundreds of cultural heritages, Ninh Thuan has "Cham pottery art" listed by UNESCO in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and "Southern amateur music art" listed in the List of Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which are of local concern for preservation.
Heritage conservation associated with tourism development
Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hoa said that the whole province has 239 heritages listed in the inventory, of which 69 cultural heritages are ranked at various levels, and is considered a province with a rich and diverse cultural heritage system. Along with that, there are 4 Cham cultural artifacts, including: King Po Rome's relief, Hoa Lai Stele, Phuoc Thien Stele and King Po Klong Garai's statue recognized by the Prime Minister as National Treasures.
Bau Truc pottery village in Ninh Thuan province attracts a lot of tourists to visit.
Visit Bau Truc pottery village (a traditional craft village considered the oldest in Southeast Asia) in Phuoc Dan town, Ninh Phuoc district on the days leading up to the Lunar New Year of At Ty 2025. At the pottery exhibition house of Bau Truc Cham Pottery Cooperative located in the middle of the village, where many tourists are admiring the pottery products, meeting Dang Tuan Khang (21 years old), considered a young talent, creating two statues of Cham artists performing Paranung drums and Saranai trumpets weighing more than 10kg and watching Cham women with their hands stained with clay demonstrate crafting techniques, in just a moment "transforming" ordinary blocks of clay into unique products.
Bau Truc ceramic products do not have fixed molds, but are created by artisans and potters who "breathe" their own emotions, thoughts, and feelings into the clay by telling stories through images about the daily life of the Cham people through their skillful, skilled hands, creating unique, characteristic ceramic products.
Bau Truc ceramic products are covered with straw, firewood, leaves... and fired in the open air for 48 hours. This firing method makes the product be fired by the fire combined with the wind to create streaks, characteristic colors, such as: red-yellow, pink-red, gray-black, brown... so the product bears the unique mark of Cham ceramics, not confused with any ceramic products in other places.
Pottery making brings in an income of 200,000 to 300,000 VND/person/day.
Ms. Truong Thi Gach (80 years old), one of the highly skilled people in the village, said that Cham girls are all taught and know how to make pottery from the age of 12 to 15. Cham people follow a matriarchal system, so mothers only pass on the craft to their daughters.
However, in recent years, due to the market's preference for large, tall, and heavy ceramic products weighing up to several dozen kilograms, many women in the village are old and cannot make large ceramic products. Therefore, to adapt to market demand, the custom of mothers only passing on the craft to their daughters has changed to the form of teaching the craft to men. Currently, in Bau Truc pottery village, many young men and middle-aged men have learned the craft and made many large and heavy products to supply customers.
The pottery profession brings in an income of 200,000 to 300,000 VND/person/day (depending on skill level and product quality). Bau Truc Cham Pottery Cooperative has 45 highly skilled members participating in production. In addition, the cooperative also consumes products from many households in the village. Thanks to a relatively stable source of income, people's lives have improved a lot. On holidays, Tet or festivals of the Cham people, Bau Truc pottery village attracts a lot of tourists to visit.
Ninh Thuan is one of 21 provinces and cities in the South Central region that has “Southern amateur music” recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity at the end of 2013. Deputy Director of the Provincial Cultural Center Pham Thi Xuan Huong said that the whole province has five amateur music clubs with nearly 70 members who regularly perform and serve the arts whenever the locality organizes events related to national culture and arts; participates in festivals, competitions, and performances inside and outside the province.
The activities of Don Ca Tai Tu have contributed to raising the level of spiritual cultural enjoyment and creativity of the people towards this art form, thereby promoting the role of the community in preserving and promoting the artistic value of Don Ca Tai Tu in the locality.
Don ca tai tu activities enhance the level of spiritual enjoyment in intangible culture
Over the years, generations of artists such as Van Hai, Huynh Than, Hoang Do, Thanh Thao... have composed hundreds of works praising the country, the Party, Uncle Ho, the homeland, the people of Ninh Thuan and performed for local people and tourists... highly appreciated by amateur music lovers and have had many works win awards when participating in regional and national festivals.
Need long term investment
In recent times, Ninh Thuan has made efforts in many forms to improve the quality of preserving the province's intangible cultural heritage. However, in reality, the conservation work has only solved urgent, immediate problems, and there is not enough funding to build a comprehensive, long-term plan, so the results have not been as expected.
According to the Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the province, Nguyen Van Hoa, currently, most of the artisans in Bau Truc pottery village are elderly, but the locality has not had a policy of adequate treatment and encouragement for artisans, the holders of cultural heritage, to encourage them to continue to contribute and teach the next generation. Meanwhile, many young people do not want to learn the profession because they think that the income from pottery making does not ensure their livelihood, so there are not many human resources to preserve the heritage.
In recent years, through the national target program capital, Ninh Thuan province has invested more than 30 billion VND to build infrastructure such as roads, craft village gates, exhibition houses, etc. to create a new look for craft villages. However, in general, the role of heritage in tourism development is not clear, local cultural tourism products account for a low proportion in the structure of tourism products in the province.
Craft villages are still struggling to improve product quality, and people have to find their own outlets for consumption, so the supply of products to the market is not much. Furthermore, craft villages lack funds to launch promotional "campaigns" in major provinces and cities as well as to bring products to national or international trade fairs.
Similarly, the work of preserving the “Art of Don Ca Tai Tu” in Ninh Thuan is also facing many difficulties. The members participating in the activities are mainly middle-aged and elderly, but the locality has not had policies to support teaching, investment, and treatment so that the artists can confidently pass on their knowledge and performance skills to the young generation, while the younger generation is not interested in this art form, leading to a shortage of successors. The organization of activities is mainly spontaneous, without regular connection between clubs and artists; there is a lack of facilities, funding, means, equipment, musical instruments... for activities.
Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Long Bien said that financial difficulties have significantly affected the conservation of intangible cultural heritage in the locality. In the coming time, the province will make more efforts to effectively promote the true values of the heritage, linking the heritage with the economic, cultural and social development of the province. However, without the attention and support of resources from the Central Government, Ninh Thuan will find it difficult to achieve results in the conservation of intangible cultural heritage.
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